The Lev

It all depends on the wording of their contract with the pilots. In AC's case the union has specifically negotiated the right for their members to piss off the paying customer.

Arcanum

OP,

It's so refreshing (and increasingly rare) to see such a polite, rational post about an unfortunate situation on AC. What a change from the usual "there was no olive in my martini so I demand a free J ticket to SYD" rants.

Thank you!

Jagboi

It means he is flying somewhere to go to work. To pick places at random for the purposes of inventing an example, suppose a pilot lives in YYC. He is rostered to fly a YYZ-LHR flight, so he would catch a flight YYC-YYZ as a deadhead flight ( i.e. as a passenger) and then pilot the YYZ-LHR flight.

The term is used in the rail industry as well, both for crews and equipment. I've seen cases where the location/number of crews is imbalanced relative to the number of trains needing to go a particular direction. For example a Revelstoke, BC based crew would be called to run a train from Field to Revelostoke. They would have a taxi take them from Revelstoke to Field ( the deadhead trip) and then bring the train from Field to Revelstoke.

Santander

I don't even understand how this is a fault on the part of AC. It totally sucks that regular passengers have to get their upgrade taken away because a pilot needs the seat, but you have to remember that DH pilots are going to work. Now I may be crazy, but even from a purely safety standpoint, I would want my flight's captain (who is legally responsible for the flight) to be well-rested and comfortable for the flight they're going to operate.

JTXC

The situation described in the first paragraph does not count as deadheading unless the pilot's home base was YYC. If a pilot lives in a city other than his home base, she or he must use personal travel passes to get to the base airport. This would be standby only. At least that is what is done for FAs.

FlyerTalker683455

Yea but he would be piloting another flight. So why do I care?

InTheAirGuy

Maybe this dude was the pilot who kicked you out:

"The captain then performed a 6.5�hour commute from Florida to Toronto via aircraft. The captain obtained approximately 90 minutes of prone rest in the flight operations pilot rest facility before reporting for duty feeling well rested. This facility is a quiet room equipped with beds to permit prone rest."

(The 767 to Zurich that failed)

http://www.tsb.gc.ca/eng/rapports-re...2/a11f0012.asp

Give up your seat. These pilot dudes who commute to get to their job need their sleep! It's a tough gig to live in Miami, get to Toronto to fly a plane and get to Zurich. Just kick the PAX out to make it work.

Oh, wait, are these the folks who have labor issues and are calling in sick? Oops.

Stranger

But then would you appreciate your pilot sitting in Y before taking charge of your flight?

beef

I understand the pilots negotiating J seats for work purposes...it's the same rationale for me when I pay for J (transoceanic) or use e-upgrades (transborder over 3 hours).

But, let's be a little realistic here....YOWYYZ? Really? Would I piss off a pax for a ~60 minute flight? If I were the pilot and I were told that a confirmed pax would be denied what they were promised, I think I would take it on the chin for an hour.

ucc

Do UA/US planes crash more often than AC's?

FlyerTalker683455

I have no control over what pilots do before my flights. Then there are two of them anyways. I only know what I booked and what I upgraded. I wouldn't find it appropriate to be re-seated to y once on board. Now, if AC had a blanket policy to fill J seats with SEs from the back maybe I would be more flexible too.

Santander

Both good points, the way in which this occurred (downgrading passenger on-board instead of at check-in or at the boarding gate) wasn't a good way for it to happen. I'd be perfectly fine with giving up my seat in C on a YOW-YYZ flight if it was at the gate but it sort of leaves a bad taste in your mouth to have to take the "walk of shame" back to Y. The fact that it's a one-hour flight sort of makes it worse but that could open up a whole new can of worms if captains start to make exceptions for short flights, i.e. where does it stop?

antirealist

Clearly "prone rest" is a term of art here, but it's a particularly jarring one, since it actually describes almost the opposite of its (presumably) intended meaning.

Dmanmtl

So, a pilot invokes his contractual right to sit in a slightly wider seat for 45 minutes at the expense of pissing off a frequent traveller on the airline....the airline that pays his salary, irrespective of how much he is unsatisfied with his compensation.

Obviously he has zero respect for his firms clients, this shows a total lack of respect for both the employer and the client of that employer.

How does this conversation go? I imagine:

Gate Agent: "no captain there are no biz seats available but I could bump one of our good clients to sit you up front"
Captain: "Yes, please do that, Screw the client, I need that extra space for my huge ego"

Ridiculous.

Arcanum

Yes, that would be ridiculous if that's what happened. You're assuming, however, that the pilot was (a) aware of the issue, and (b) pulled rank.

Flight ops may have called down and told the crew to do the reseat without the pilot ever knowing. He just showed up and took his seat.

Don't get me wrong, I'm as perennially disappointed in AC's customer service and unions as the next traveler, but let's not dump on this individual without knowing the whole story.